Rose
by dustycaramac
Summary: The Doctor and the TARDIS are pulled back to the alternate universe, the one in which Rose Tyler is going through the motions of living her life without the Doctor, day after day. First story of a series that hasn't been uploaded yet.
1. The TARDIS

**1. The TARDIS**

The Doctor circled the control panel of the TARDIS, reminiscent of the time he had just said goodbye to Rose, on the beach. Norway, wasn't it? Bad Wolf Bay. He touched buttons gently, ran his hand over levers, and watched his fingers as he did so.

He missed Rose more than ever, now. Fighting the Racnoss with Donna had been… empty. Donna would have been a good companion – if you didn't count the shouting, the slapping, the fact that she had continually missed the big picture – basically everything he had ever done for the human race. After all, even the Doctor liked a little bit of recognition now and then… and even from insane brides to be.

No, it wasn't Donna's fault that his most recent adventure had been lacking that certain something. And the Doctor was pretty sure what that certain something was.

He had asked Donna to come with him, of course. He had lost confidence after her infamous line, "And then you made it snow… I mean, you scare me to death!" The Doctor smiled to himself slightly in memory. He hadn't meant to scare her… just try and help her enjoy Christmas a little more. He sat down on one of the chairs next to the console, lifting his Converse clad feet up and resting them on the control panel.

He hadn't quite expected to be turned down so soon after Rose's loss. In fact, he hadn't quite expected to ask anybody so they had the opportunity to turn him down. What had he told Donna? "I don't need anyone." The Doctor was starting to realise how much of a lie that was.

He wanted Rose. The Doctor sighed as he admitted it to himself, and knew that even that statement – which had taken him so much to think – was incorrect. He _needed_ her. The more he thought about this, the more he realised that hiding his feelings from her had been the best thing he'd ever done. She didn't need that. A nine hundred year old Time Lord, in love with her? A nine hundred year old Time Lord, who'd lost his whole race, in love with her? Better to keep it hidden then burden her with that.

Well, not quite hidden. She'd guessed. She'd obviously guessed. The Doctor had come so close to telling her so many times. When he had given up his life, as his ninth regeneration, just to save her. She must have known then. The Doctor remembered her words: "I want you safe. My Doctor." He had known then. Known her feelings for him. At least, he had guessed them.

The Doctor leant his head back slightly, breathing in deeply and then letting it out again. Just before he let himself drop into the pit whilst Ida sat above him… Rose had been his faith. He didn't believe in Gods or Demons, just one thing. The girl who waited for him all the time he was in the pit. Rose Tyler. He had made that clear to himself more than anybody when he had shouted it at the Beast.

The funny thing was, neither of them had spoken aloud about it. Not until the moment in which they thought they'd never be able to again. Rose had spoken. She had been braver than the Doctor, in the end. Something he hated himself for.

Slitheen? The Gelth? Strange creatures that liked being called 'Absorbaloffs', from the twin planet of Raxicoricofallipatorius, Klom? Oh, the Doctor could deal with those. But confessing his love for somebody? That was something altogether different.

One of the Time Lord's biggest regrets was the fact that he had run out of time. He had spent too much of it saying meaningless things, when all he needed to say was: "I love you, Rose Tyler." And he hadn't even managed that.

Then again, given more time, the Doctor didn't even know if he would have said that. Whilst pacing the TARDIS, just before Donna and her troubles appeared in the blue box, the Doctor was thinking. He was half glad that he'd been stopped. And half angry with himself for being half glad.

She deserved to know. She was going to live the rest of her life with no idea how he really felt. Or was that better? The Doctor allowed his feet to drop, and took the key of the TARDIS from his pocket, looking at it with a kind of longing. He didn't know what to think anymore. He was a changed man; different from when he had met the Autons, from when he had first met Rose. Then again, that was a given… he'd gone through a regeneration since then.

But the Doctor didn't mean just that. He meant in the way he felt about Rose. He'd become too attached to her, too close. And yet he had never wanted to break away, which is something he thought he'd end up wanting, needing.

The Doctor screwed his eyes shut, to the sound of voices in his head.

_"Fear, loneliness, they're the big ones, Rose…"_

_"You know what, they keep on trying to split us up, but they never ever will…"_

_"Never say never ever…"_

_"We'll always be okay, you and me…"_

_"Something coming… a storm…"_

The Doctor leapt up, trying to busy himself with something, anything, whilst shoving the key back into his trouser pocket. He leant heavily on the console, his hearts aching.

Fear, loneliness. Never had they weighed so heavily upon his shoulders.


	2. Glinting, Glowing, Orange

**2. Glinting, Glowing, Orange**

It had been one year and forty-eight days since the death of Rose Tyler. The day she entered through the void and fell into a world which was not her own. The day she had lost everything.

It was one o' clock in the afternoon, and the noise of the Tyler family reverberated through the walls of the mansion they lived in. It was definitely not a strange occurrence – everyone who lived there was quite used to it.

"Rose? Rose, come downstairs love, I'm doing a fry up!"

Jackie's voice, as usual, was the loudest in the house. It was quite strange that Jackie and Pete had remarried, really – he being quite quiet and submissive, and her being altogether different, but it worked, they got by.

Jackie scooped her young daughter into her arms and placed her into the high chair. Sophie had been a blessing for the family. The young baby took her older sister's mind off other things which she could have spent her time thinking about. Jackie didn't want her daughter dwelling too much on _those_ things.

Rose entered the large kitchen and crossed it to the high chair, tickling her sister under the chin. "Hello Sophie," she cooed, "are we having fry up too, then?" Sophie giggled, thumping her little hands on the surface in front of her.

Rose turned to Jackie. "Anything I can do to help?" she asked.

"No, love," Jackie said, "just sit yourself down." Rose did so, just as Jackie asked, "So what are you going to do today?"

Rose shrugged, looking up at her mum as she put her food down in front of her. "Thought I might go down to the beach…"

Jackie looked disapproving, but only for a moment and nodded, beginning to feed Sophie her food. "That'd be nice."

Rose knew how her mum really felt about her going down to the beach. However, Rose had gone religiously every week whether her mum approved or not. Not the one in Norway, not Bad Wolf Bay. But she went to the beach near the mansion and sat there, thinking that maybe – just maybe – he'd be there, like he had been before. But not an image this time. Really, really there.

Sometimes she walked through the mansion and thought things like 'We stood here whilst we were servants in the house', or 'In this world, we defeated the Cybermen'. But those thoughts didn't bring him back. Oh, Rose had tried everything.

She'd tried calling the TARDIS' phone by typing 827347 and dialling on her mobile. All she had received in return was silence, proving to her that the number was right, just that the Doctor was on the other side of the void. A different, parallel, alternate world. To Rose, the void was unimaginably big.

She'd tried contacting the Doctor in her dreams, just like he had in hers. But she only ended up having nightmares about the Doctor, where he was so close and she reached out to touch him, only to have him disappear, just as he had on Bad Wolf Bay. Her heart ached every moment she thought of the Doctor.

So she had learnt to stop thinking of him. She had to get on with her life, move on. When she thought of the Doctor, all she could do was cry, unable to think straight. Because she loved him. She had loved him so much, and she loved him still, but he was somewhere unreachable. He was back in their world, whilst she was stuck in a world just as alien to her as the Slitheen.

Torchwood had been good, for a while. It had taken her mind off things, made her feel as if she was doing something with her life. But it never had the same thrill as Rose had experienced whilst travelling with the Doctor in the TARDIS. So she had left Torchwood, quit her job after Jackie had had Sophie. Rose wanted to spend time with her sister.

Mostly, Rose had understood just how important her family was to her. She wouldn't go so far as to say that she was wrong to take off with the Doctor the first time that she did, but it wasn't exactly the most intelligent thing she'd ever done. But she didn't regret her decision to stay on the right side of the void with the Doctor. No, she'd never regret that. Although, maybe that was because there was nothing to regret. She hadn't been able to stay with the Doctor anyway – she had been torn cruelly from him whilst attempting to save the world herself.

Something she'd definitely managed. By pulling that lever back, she had made sure that the Daleks continued to get sucked into the void, stopping them from taking over the world next door. But at great cost to herself. For quite a few of the first few months, Rose had blamed herself, wished she hadn't gone towards that lever, trying to be the heroine. Gradually, however, she had accepted that it had been the right thing to do, even though she would never see the Doctor again. Never.

Rose finished off the last of her food and smiled at her mum, announcing that she was going to the beach now. She left the kitchen and pulled on her trainers quickly, anxious to get there, just in case the Doctor was already waiting for her. She sprinted down the stone steps and emerged onto the sand, feeling the wind blow her hair. It soothed her, and she made her way towards the rocks set into the sea. She climbed onto the rock furthest out and sat down on top of it, facing the waves and feeling the cool sea spray across her face.

She reached into her jacket pocket and brought out the key to the TARDIS, the key that she had been given just before she met the Slitheen. She looked at it, and a lone tear slid down her cheek. The key had been nothing but a key ever since her father had held her close to him as she fell through the void.

Rose stood, moving her arm back and launching the key forwards in an over arm throw. It twisted and turned as it headed towards the waves, and made a slight noise as it disappeared beneath them. Turning away, Rose climbed back over the rocks and headed back home towards the Tyler mansion.

A week later, Rose returned to the beach, taking a walk along its shoreline this time. She loved feeling the cool of the water as it splashed over her trainers, and sat down, removing her shoes and socks just before placing her feet before her and allowing the water to lap over her toes.

It was then that she spotted something glinting next to her, and leaned closer to make sure she was actually seeing what she was seeing, because believing it might lead to false hope if she believed that the TARDIS was somehow still attracted to her. The key that she had thrown away only a week ago was lying about a foot from her, half buried in wet sand, but glinting, glowing, orange.

She recognised the colour from when she had seen it with the Doctor's ninth regeneration, when she had almost torn apart the universe, just by saving her father. The Doctor had tried to call the TARDIS to him because he'd found his key, hot, glinting, glowing, orange. But Rose had messed up again and he hadn't been able to. But this time… this time…

Hope surged through Rose and she reached forward to touch the key, and immediately retracted her hand. It was boiling, proving to her that the key was still connected to the TARDIS. She grabbed it quickly, putting it near her feet and allowing the waves to cool it slightly. And then she did the first thing she thought of in the moment.

She lifted the key to her eye level, pressed her lips against it, and whispered, "Please come back to me."


	3. Ice Cream & Heroics

**3. Ice Cream & Heroics**

The Doctor had left the TARDIS a while ago now, and so far the only useful thing he'd done was get some exercise. Other things included getting into a fight with an ice cream vendor about the sale of his last ice cream – although the Doctor had been in the queue first, the vendor had suggested that a little girl and her father behind him should get the last one – and storming off after said fight. It was like the time he'd had to wrestle a toddler for the remote control when a spaceship had smashed through Big Ben. He'd only wanted to watch the news, and had had to strain his ears – although _that_ hadn't been difficult, at the time – in order to catch everything. Kids!

He had walked for quite a long way trying to find somewhere else to get an ice cream – he was simply in an ice cream _mood_ – but to no avail. So he had walked all the way back to the beach which he had been on previously, and sat on one of the deck chairs furthest away from the sea.

He had no idea why'd he'd picked a fight with an ice cream vendor, anyway. If it had been a couple of days ago – if he had been with _Rose_ – he would have grinned and stepped back, allowing the child to go first before the vendor had even suggested it. But the Doctor felt so unbelievably hollow that he thought absolutely everyone was against him, whether or not they actually were. And apparently, that included ice cream vendors.

Then again, it was good he was so suspicious. Wasn't it? It made him more wary, less likely to get himself into this situation again. The situation where he was deeply, hopelessly in love with a woman who he could never see again. A woman on the other side of the void.

The Doctor had felt his hearts break as he'd pressed the side of his face to the white wall, and he had felt Rose there. She was on the other side of the void, doing exactly the same thing.

He would give so much just to see her again. To touch her arm, to stare into those eyes, to hold her hand. He briefly wondered how he'd fallen so easily in love with Rose, when he hadn't wanted to care again after the fall of Gallifrey. Ever since Rose had gone, he had briefly wondered that exact same thought every day, before wiping away the tears that fell from his eyes and carrying on with whatever he was trying to distract himself with this time.

The Doctor leapt up suddenly, dropping to his knees beside the deck chair, his hearts racing considerably faster than normal as he swore he had seen something beside his chair, in the sand, glinting, glowing, orange, something that looked suspiciously like a TARDIS key. But after a few seconds of searching, the Doctor decided that it had just been his imagination, and gave up. He stood, turning around once more to face the sea.

He squinted, his eyes screwing up as he raised a hand to shield them from the sun. There seemed to be a commotion down at the shoreline, and the Doctor, never one to miss a commotion, began to stroll casually towards the large group of people. Once he reached them, he began pushing his way subtly to the front, until he managed to see what was going on.

A woman was standing at the shoreline, shouting something out to sea, her face red and tear streaked. The Doctor followed her eye line and saw two boys caught in the current, clearly in distress. He narrowed his eyes as he watched the people in the circle, every single face looking guilty that they weren't helping.

The Doctor moved forward and stood next to the woman, putting a hand softly on her arm. She shivered and turned slightly to look at him. "What happened?" he asked.

The woman swallowed, pausing before saying, very quickly, "My boy, Jordan… he was swimming but got caught in the current… his brother… he went after him, but he got caught too…" The woman looked like she was about to burst into tears again, and the Doctor nodded.

"Don't worry," he said, and pushed back through the circle, sprinting down the beach to the rocky outcrop which provided quite a convenient path to about five metres from where the two boys were. Without stopping to think, the Doctor leapt onto the rocks and began to step across them like stepping stones, following the path towards the boys, his long legs helping him get over some of the larger distances – and when even his long legs didn't help him, he was still able to jump.

Finally, the Doctor reached the rock furthest out, and yelled, "Jordan!" One of the boys, struggling to keep his head above water, looked up at the Doctor. "I'm the Doctor, and I'm here to help, okay? Hold on!"

The Doctor looked around – clearly making this up as he went along – before grasping a long piece of very strong, again very convenient seaweed that had twirled itself around the rock he was standing on, and tying a loop in the end. He then threw it, true cowboy style. It latched around the rock he had been previously standing on and the Doctor leapt back onto it in order to secure the seaweed.

Once he had done this, he turned and scrambled onto the rock closest to the boys again, slipping slightly. He growled as he felt water seeping into his Converse. He sat down, facing the distressed boys, his legs hovering above the sea. He then felt about his person and pulled the sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket.

He twisted the top, adjusting the setting, and leant to the right, aiming the screwdriver at the bottom of the rock and pressing the button.

There was a crunching noise as the rock broke away from its foundations and started being pulled along towards the boys by the current. The Doctor shoved the sonic screwdriver into his pocket and almost swore as he remembered that he actually had to grab the seaweed, and did so, wrapping it around his wrist tightly and tying it securely.

He stood up, wobbling slightly at first, and then spreading his arms so that he gained stability. He looked around and was pleased to see that the woman had stopped yelling, and that the whole of the circle were staring at him as if he was mad. Which he was, of course.

He grinned and waved, almost making him lose his balance. He stumbled and threw his foot up, balancing on one leg, his arms still spread wide. Realising how ridiculous he must look, he put his foot down and knelt, holding the arm that didn't have the seaweed wrapped around it out to the closest boy.

The boy grabbed his hand and the Doctor pulled him up onto the rock. The shivering, freezing, wet boy held onto the Doctor's seaweed covered arm for dear life as the Doctor pulled the second boy onto the rock.

"Grab a piece of rock, boys," he said, and shifted them over. They did as they were asked and the Doctor started pulling the seaweed, dragging the rock that the three of them were floating on back to the stationary rock.

When they had gently bumped the rock, the Doctor said, "Think you can make it back yourselves?" The boys nodded, grateful to the Doctor but still quite terrified of him, and began taking the rocks back to the shore. The Doctor stepped onto the rock that didn't move, and the rock that did began to float away.

He took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket once more, and aimed it at the seaweed around his wrist, pressing the button. The green plant broke and fell down, and the Doctor followed the boys back to shore, putting the screwdriver carefully back into his pocket as he went.

When he reached the beach, the Doctor was enveloped into such a tight embrace from the boys' mother he had to fight for breath. She broke away, her eyes shining with tears. "Thank you," she said, "thank you so much."

"Well," the Doctor said, smiling at her, "all in a day's… wor… wo…"

He trailed off, a familiar sound coming to his ears. The whooshing of the TARDIS as it began to dematerialise. Without an explanation, the Doctor ran, pushing past the crowd, across the beach and up the steps, towards the place where he'd left the TARDIS when he landed.

He gave a cry when he saw it disappearing, and just managed to grab hold of the edge of it as it rushed through space and time, the Doctor flying along behind it. He launched himself forward, struggling to take his key out of his trouser pocket.

If he thought that was difficult, trying to get the key in the keyhole with his left hand whilst holding on for dear life with his right was even worse. He spent so much time jabbing at the hole and not hitting on target that the hand holding on felt numb. And when the Doctor finally got the key in and turned it, he pushed himself through the doorway, falling down in the TARDIS and kicking the door shut with his foot.

He groaned and rolled over, his head spinning, before he passed out cold.


	4. I'm the Doctor

**4. "I'm the Doctor"**

The Doctor struggled to his senses and awoke to the sound of nothing. Absolutely nothing. He groaned, raising a hand to his head and rubbing the back of it, making his hair stand on end.

Slowly, the Doctor opened his eyes and the TARDIS' control panel swam into focus. He was slightly confused because he was unceremoniously slumped in the chair near the middle of the room, which was not where he had passed out, to his memory. All too quickly, another figure leapt in front of him, wielding the mallet that the Doctor sometimes used to hit the TARDIS' console.

Instinctively, the Doctor held up a hand to protect himself, blinking rapidly as the figure in front of him became clearer. The man would have been slightly shorter than himself if the Doctor had been standing up. He had messy black hair and piercing green eyes that looked so full of terror at the moment that the Doctor felt less than threatened.

He groaned again, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

The man began speaking, in a tentative voice. "You own this box, right? I just want to make- make sure…"

The Doctor looked up at the man with the mallet, and nodded. Upon his assent, the man quickly replaced the mallet back onto the panel and started apologising profusely.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't realise… I just came in because… I wondered _what_ you could be doing in such a tiny box… and… and I just…"

The Doctor furrowed his brow and stood up, stretching his arms in front of him. "How did you get in?" he asked.

"I… you left the door open," the man said.

"Did I?" The Doctor must have been more distracted than he first thought. To his knowledge he had _never_ accidentally left the door open before.

"You were mumbling something about ice cream when you left… I… I thought I'd have a quick look but then this noise started and there was a thump on the outside… then you fell in…"

The Doctor pulled on his ear nervously. "You didn't start her up?" he said, thinking aloud to himself.

"No…"

The Doctor moved towards the console, stroking it with one long finger. "What's wrong then?" he crooned softly. "Where are you going?"

One of the more pressing questions, to the Doctor, was why the TARDIS had been fooled into leaving without him. She would never do such a thing, and even though there had been a life form on board, the way he was twittering nervously he was clearly a human. The TARDIS couldn't have picked up two heartbeats, so why had she started moving?

There was a jerk and the Doctor was thrown backwards, grabbing the chair as he went to prevent himself falling down too hard onto the floor. He coughed and jumped up, looking around for the human. He soon spotted him, on the floor, sitting up, rubbing his back, a pained expression on his face.

"You all right?" the Doctor asked, not very concerned but feeling the need to ask how he was – after all, he was a guest on the TARDIS.

"Yeah… yeah I think so," the man said, staggering to his feet. He paused as if expecting the Doctor to say more, but the Time Lord just walked around the console, stopping at a small screen and pressing a few buttons to the side of it. "I'm… I'm Gary, by the way," the man continued.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor replied subconsciously, he was so used to saying it now. "Come on, old girl," he said, stroking the screen softly, "where are we?" The screen refused to come to life, and remained black. "Right then!" the Doctor said, in irritation, looking around for his coat. "We're going to have to find out ourselves. Gary have you seen a coat? Brown coat, in my size, longish, _incredibly_ stylish?"

Gary blinked at the Doctor, and simply said, "You're wearing it."

The Doctor looked down and looked back up, nodding. "Oh yes, so I am. Brilliant. Well, allons-y!"

Gary looked confused. "Allons-y?"

"Mush!" the Doctor said exasperatedly, flapping his arms. "Move! Scram! Out the door!" Seeing that no variations on 'leave the TARDIS' were going to work, the Doctor continued, "Oh… look, I'll go first." He strode to the door, pulling it open and stepping outside. He allowed Gary to pass him and shut the door, his attention caught immediately by the sky.

_Zeppelins._

"Where are we?" Gary asked, his lower lip wobbling in worry. "We… we were by a beach! And now we're… we're standing on this road in… where the hell are we?"

The Doctor's eyes glazed over as he continued to stare at the sky.

"What are those things?" Gary pressed. "Doc… Doctor?" He was trying to get used to calling this man 'Doctor'. "Doctor, where are we?"

The Doctor looked at Gary and sucked in breath through his cheeks, before saying, in his breath out, "Nowhere, really. Well, not important anyway. I'd say you were a bit far from home, though. Well, when I say a bit far from home, I actually mean that you're quite far from home. But that's the up part of having a TARDIS isn't it? Some great adventures and a lot of laughs." He patted the box affectionately. "Makes the impossible possible. Yes, she certainly does that. Definitely. No doubt about it."

Gary stared at the Doctor, confusion evident in his eyes. The Doctor cleared his throat. "Well, I'm going to explore then. See the sights. Take in a few shows. Get an ice cream. That sort of thing. You could… come with me, if you like. Well, you don't have any choice really, do you, if you want to get home. I might be a while though. Well, when I say a while, I really mean a while."

Gary tried to make sense of this long stream of speech, before nodding and saying, "I'll come with you, Doctor."

"Excellent. Off we go then. Allon–" Taking account of Gary's expression, the Doctor stopped in the middle of his word and simply said, his resentment clear, "Mush."


	5. A Doctor Calls

**5. A Doctor Calls**

Rose had waited for hours at the beach, thinking that maybe this time, maybe what she had tried would work. Perhaps she would hear the sound of the TARDIS materialising, the familiar whooshing sound that she missed so much. And so she had waited, long after the key had stopped glinting, glowing, orange, and had instead turned cold.

Her body stiff, Rose had stood up and replaced her socks and shoes onto her feet. She had then walked back to the house, each step hurting her as she had felt that familiar surge of hope, just to have that hope dashed very slowly and painfully by reality. How Rose hated reality.

She reached the house and went straight up to her room. Her mum didn't press her for an explanation; she didn't need one. Rose came back from the beach like this every time, and Jackie couldn't possibly know that this time she felt even worse.

Instead, Jackie set about baking some chocolate muffins. It was the least she could do, and perhaps Rose would cheer up a little bit if she ate.

x

The Doctor might have felt like making general conversation with Gary if he hadn't realised exactly where they were. As it was, he did possess this information and had no interest in the man who had walked straight into his TARDIS and apparently sent her flying into a parallel universe. At least, he didn't have any interest in said man _yet._

He was strolling purposefully down the road, attempting an air of nonchalance. It wasn't working. His body temperature had rocketed to at least that of humans, if not more, and he could feel his hearts thumping painfully against his ribs in his chest.

All sorts of traumatising thoughts were running through his mind: what if she's moved house; how can we be here in the first place; and why is it we and not just me – to mention only a few which took pride of place at the forefront of his traumatised mind.

Another one that seemed to be popping up quite a lot more than the others was the fact that they were here, and buildings weren't falling down as universes started crashing in on them.

"Doctor," Gary said, panting to keep up with the Time Lord's long strides, "Doctor, can we just stop for a moment? I want to get a drink."

The Doctor halted suddenly next to a café, his voice unusually high as he responded, "Yeah, sure, go ahead. Got any money?"

Gary nodded, looking bewildered. "Of course I do. Don't… don't you?"

"Oh, yeah," the Doctor said, screwing up his eyes, looking away and nodding, whilst shoving his hands in his jacket pockets at the same time. "'Course I do. What kind of question is that? Go nowhere without money, me. Couldn't live without it." Gary stared blankly at him. "Drink?" the Doctor prompted, and Gary scuttled off.

The Doctor danced on the balls of his feet, before taking a seat outside the café on one of the patterned white tables and chairs. He drummed his long fingers on the surface in front of him as he waited, his coat trailing on the floor as the Doctor took deep breaths.

Rose. _His Rose._ She was so near to him, and yet she felt so far away. If this world had began to collapse around him and Gary, the Doctor would never have stepped foot outside the TARDIS – he would have headed straight back to his normal universe. He knew how dangerous it was to dabble in such things – but he missed Rose _so much._

Why was Gary taking so long?

The Doctor leapt up, almost knocking the table over as Gary came back out with a chilled diet coke in his hand. "Are you done?" the Doctor asked impatiently.

Gary nodded, and the Doctor turned and began to walk again, his stomach turning over and over with nervousness. How would she react? What would she say? Would she draw him close or push him away?

"Anything you'd like to talk about, Doctor?" Gary ventured. "Only, I wouldn't mind listening. You seem to be… thinking a lot. Distracted, you know…"

The Doctor spared a glance for Gary, who was still walking several metres behind. "I'm fine," he growled, a deep sound in his throat as he rounded a corner and saw a big mansion house, stopping dead in his tracks. He swallowed nervously as Gary paused beside him, giving the Time Lord a confused look.

The Doctor was visibly shaking, and Gary didn't really know what to do. Tentatively, he unscrewed the top of his coke bottle and held it out to the Doctor. "Want some?"

x

It had been three months and seventeen days since Rose had seen the key begin to glow at the beach. It had been three months and seventeen days since Rose had asked for the Doctor – _her Doctor_ – to come back. It had been three months and seventeen days since Rose had lost hope again.

It happened every time. Her heart would leap to her mouth at the prospect of seeing the Doctor again, and then it would fall to her feet when she realised, yet again, that he was not coming for her.

A choked voice swam to the forefront of her mind, her own voice, as she heard it: _"Am I ever going to see you again?"_

And then the voice, _his_ voice, his familiar voice, and Rose could almost see the pain in his eyes as he spoke to her: _"You can't."_

Rose stifled a sob as she struggled to remember the rest of the conversation at Bad Wolf Bay. She had forgotten so many of the details, what he had said to her, and what she had said in return. Or, more accurately, what she had said to him, and what he had not been able to say.

Rose longed to know how he was. She longed to touch him again, to hold his hand and run from an adversary, to watch him smile maniacally and explain something at one hundred miles a minute – more like a _second_ – and then stare danger in the face bravely, his eyes lit up the whole time.

And she wished that she hadn't forgotten things he had said. Standing on a beach, looking at his form when it really wasn't there – they were Rose's last memories of the Doctor. But try as she might… she just couldn't remember. Not the first part, anyway. Maybe the anticipation of what could have been his last words to her had made her mind shut out the rest.

Rose had tried not to think of this since she had been in the parallel universe. She was confident that it would add only to her hurt, her anguish, her pain at losing the Doctor.

She missed him.

Oh how she missed him.

Rose was jerked out of her thoughts by a loud, incessant buzzing noise reverberating throughout the whole house. It was the front gate. Rose had begged her mother and father to put walls and a gate around their house, simply because she was terrified of losing any of her family as well as the Doctor. They had complied, understanding that Rose needed to be comforted in as many ways as possible. Rose felt safer since it had been installed.

However, the button at the front of the gate never sounded throughout the mansion – it only sounded in the hall. The fact it was playing up like this immediately put Rose on her guard. Then again, it didn't take a lot of effort nowadays to put Rose on her guard.

She swung her legs over her bed and walked downstairs in her slippers and dressing gown. She wrapped the cords tightly around herself and absent-mindedly played with her hair. It was done up in a messy high ponytail – she had slept with it like this, and so she looked a bit of a mess as she padded to the door and pressed the button next to it.

Jackie was out shopping with Sophie, Pete was at Torchwood, and Mickey… well, Mickey and his whereabouts were a train of thought she didn't want to hop onto right now. Rose would have to answer the caller herself.

"Who is it?" she asked, putting her mouth close to the grill so that whoever it was could hear her properly.

There was a pause before the grill crackled into life. "Hello Rose Tyler… got time for a chat?"

Rose stood still for a moment, her eyes wide and her breath very short. And then she fainted, falling to the side and collapsing, in a daze, onto the floor.


	6. Bad Reaction

**6. Bad Reaction**

Rose woke slowly, pulling herself out of a nightmare in which she was being chased by all of the monsters she'd ever seen, all of the aliens she'd ever encountered. She was completely alone, running down corridor upon corridor, and as she turned corners she expected to see the Doctor with his refreshingly familiar face, ready to take on anything and everything which was hurting Rose. _His Rose._

Rose blinked and rubbed her eyes, the familiar material of the sofa in the living room soft against the exposed flesh of her back. She shivered and felt about for her dressing gown, pulling it on and wrapping it tightly around herself as she sat up and stood, swaying gently.

Catching movement in the corner of her eye, Rose turned slightly and let out a squeak as a familiar, freckled, boyish face came into view. The memory of what had happened came flooding back to her quickly – too quickly. She fell backwards in shock.

The Doctor moved quickly around her and caught her in his arms, propping her back up to a standing position and grinning. "Hello, Rose."

Her reaction was not what he expected, nor what he had desired. She began to struggle, lashing out at him. Seeing that she was quite steady on her feet now, the Doctor released her, pain and hurt evident in his eyes.

Rose took this opportunity to back off, almost tripping over the fluffy slippers that she had been wearing. Tears streaked down her face as she cried silently, not letting a gasp escape her lips.

The Doctor knew better than to approach her. She'd be okay. He just needed to give her a bit of space – and maybe a bit of time. She'd be okay.

"Who are you?" Rose whispered, barely audible. Her voice was strained, her eyes wide as she looked the Doctor up and down, drinking in his appearance as if she wanted to reach out and touch him, but could not bring herself to do so.

"Rose…" the Doctor began, but was interrupted.

"Who _are_ you?" Rose repeated, louder this time, slightly stronger. She began to look wildly around her, as if searching for a weapon to wield against the man who she had waited for for so long.

"It's me, Rose, it's the Doctor," the Doctor answered desperately.

Rose stared at him for a long while, forgetting her search for a weapon as she gazed at him. The Doctor met her gaze, his arms hanging limply by his sides, as he was silent, for once. For Rose.

He watched as she slumped back onto the sofa and buried her head in her hands, sobbing loudly now, but hiding her face from the distraught Time Lord. He longed to sit down next to her, to put his arms around her and kiss her forehead, to comfort her, but didn't want to startle or upset her more than he already had. There was also the fact that he didn't want to get kicked in the shins again by bare feet, but the other reasons for his refrain from sitting down were more important to him.

He stayed silent, watching her, waiting for her to stop crying so he could try to understand why Rose had reacted the way she did. Did she not want to see him? Did she blame him for leaving her? Did she hate him for running out of time?

Gradually, Rose's sobs died away and she looked up at him, her eyes puffy and red. There was a long pause as they gazed into each other's eyes.

"Doctor?" Rose whispered. Her voice had returned to barely audible, and the Doctor had to strain his ears in order to hear her. "My Doctor?"

The Doctor swallowed, nodding his head gently. "Yes, Rose."

Slowly, she stood up and walked towards him, as if in a dream. She stopped a few feet from him, drinking in his appearance again. "My Doctor," she whispered again – but this time it was not a question, and the Doctor did not answer.

She lifted a hand and cupped the side of his face, and the Doctor allowed her to do it, not flinching, or making any moves towards the girl. Rose let her hand drop as fresh tears began to brim in her eyes. It was then that she turned and fled the room, her feet making dull thumping noises as she took the stairs two at a time and ran into her room, slamming the door behind her.

She leant against it, panting, tears flowing freely down her face. She didn't even try to stop them. She then gave a wail of anguish and leapt forward, throwing herself onto the bed face forward, pounding the pillow with her fists.

It wasn't him. It _couldn't_ be him. He'd told her that it was impossible, that they were never going to see one another again. She couldn't begin to comprehend why the Doctor was here, why he had been outside the house, why he was downstairs in her living room right now.

So instead of trying to understand, Rose just kept hitting her pillow, sobbing loudly as the morning turned into afternoon, and the afternoon turned into evening. As she realised that this time, there was so much more to this than her overactive imagination.

x

It was around six o' clock in the evening when she dared to go downstairs again. By this time, she had had a shower and changed into jeans and a t-shirt, her wet hair drying slowly as she stepped into the kitchen and saw him again.

He was sitting at the table, his elbows resting on the wood and his fingers at his temples, his eyes shut as he breathed rhythmically. She could tell that he was thinking. Doing her best not to disturb him, she pulled the chair opposite him a couple of metres away from the table and sat down, resting her hands anxiously in her lap.

It was only a few seconds after this that he opened his eyes and removed his hands from his head, instead resting them on top of each other on the table, his elbows spread-eagled.

Rose knew that the Doctor wasn't going to speak until she did – she had scared him too much for that. So she began the conversation with a simple: "Hello."

The Doctor inclined his head, nodding at her gently. "Hello, Rose."

Rose sucked in breath and resolutely refused to break down. Instead, she asked the question that had been plaguing her ever since she had run upstairs. "How did you get here?"

The Doctor looked at her for a long moment, before replying softly, "I don't know. But I'll find out, Rose."

Rose's heart sank. The Doctor, _her Doctor_, would know how he got here. This Doctor didn't. She didn't understand, but she didn't press it either, failing to see what would come out of it if she did.

"How did you get in?" she asked, another one of the questions which had been annoying her. There was solid brick wall around the house, and a big gate in front of it. She was trying to test the Doctor. She didn't trust this – not one bit.

The Doctor reached inside his jacket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. "With this," he said.

Rose held out her hand, and the Doctor slid it across the table. Rose stood, retrieved it, and then went to sit back down. She turned it over in her hands, letting her gaze move from the Doctor down to the object in her hand. It was just how she had always remembered it, and she was comforted by its presence in her hands. She didn't want to give it back, so she didn't; simply stood up, slipped it in her back pocket and looked down at the Doctor, who looked slightly confused at the fact she was keeping it.

"I don't trust you," she said, in way of explanation. "My Doctor would know how he got here. My Doctor would… he'd… my Doctor said that this was impossible. And I believed him. I _believe_ him. I believe him with all my heart."

The Doctor sighed as he understood the fact that Rose had taken the sonic screwdriver because it comforted her – not only that, but she saw it as a weapon for him to use against her. His hearts ached as he also realised that Rose didn't trust him at all. He thought some kind of explanation was in order.

"Rose–"

It was at that moment that Gary swaggered in through the kitchen door. Rose yelped and backed towards the wall. That was the explanation gone up in flames, then…

"Who are you?" Rose squeaked.

The Doctor stood up. "Rose, this is Gary–"

"And who is _he_?"

"He… he was… he's travelling with me for a while." The Doctor felt that the explanation of how he had come here was something to do with Gary would hinder rather than help in this situation. He finished instead by saying, quite lamely, he thought: "He's not going to hurt you, Rose."

Rose stared at him. "But I don't _know_ that," she whispered. The mistrust in her eyes broke the Doctor's hearts.

The phone rang, trilling on the wall as all three of them turned to look at it. Rose glanced at the Doctor and Gary for a moment, before pulling it off the hook. "Hello?" she murmured.

A voice came through, and even though the Doctor was five or six metres away from the phone, he could tell that it was an irate Jackie Tyler on the other end. Rose's eyes grew wide as she listened to her mother, and she quickly said, "Okay, Mum… calm down, I'll be there in a sec." Pause. "Yeah, I'll see you soon, all right?"

She replaced the phone and glanced at the two other people in the kitchen, one all too familiar, and the other extremely unfamiliar.

"I've got to go," Rose said, "and you're not staying here. You can both leave." She turned and left the room, pushing past Gary as she left and pulling the front door open, walking outside and waiting for the other two to follow suit. Once they had, she shut the door and locked it, walking briskly ahead of the two men.

"Rose–" the Doctor began, but again was cut short.

"I don't want to hear it," Rose mumbled as she used her key on the gate and pulled it open, ushering them both out and following after them, locking the gate behind her, not looking at them. "You can go back to the TARDIS as far as I'm concerned. You're impossible. You're not supposed to be here."

She paused before adding, "And I don't need you around right now. I'm worried enough at the moment without you coming along and making things more difficult." She stopped, as the Doctor remained silent, just looking at her and waiting for her to finish, because he could tell that she had not.

Quietly, she admitted, "My dad's in trouble."


	7. The Torchwood Institute

**7. The Torchwood Institute**

"Will you stop following me?" Rose called out over her shoulder, quickening her pace. "I don't need you around. I've survived without you for God knows how long now. I don't need you following me around."

The Doctor didn't speak as he trailed after Rose, his strides not as long as they would be if he was not following her. She was slightly slower than he was at walking, demonstrated by the amount of times she'd had to jog slightly in order to keep up with his long strides when they had been on adventures together in the past.

Gary brought up the rear, his expression weary. He clearly didn't want to be here, but it was also clear that he felt his best option was to stick with the Doctor, seeing as he'd have to stay in this strange world if he did not. He'd already noticed that the traffic lights were blue, and he was terrified.

The Doctor was thinking of how unusually right Mickey the Idiot had been when he had said what he did when they'd first arrived in this world. And much as he felt that he probably shouldn't talk to Rose whilst she was in her current state of denial, he couldn't help himself.

"What's happened to Mickey?"

Rose spared a glance at him, still walking briskly – for her. "He's gone," she said. The Doctor waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't. The rest of the journey continued in silence, the Doctor mulling everything over in his brain. Mulling didn't help – in fact, it was more an irritation, and he soon refrained and tried to think of other things. It didn't work.

When they reached a crossing, the Doctor knew immediately where they were going. There was a very grand, white building just over the road, and going by the gleaming gold letters that could be read even from where the trio were standing, the Doctor knew that they were heading towards the Torchwood of this world.

"Torchwood, then?" he announced, shoving his hands into his coat pockets as he caught up with Rose enough to walk beside her. "You still working there?"

Without looking at him, Rose responded, "No." There was a pause. The Doctor could see that she was straining to withhold information from him, but couldn't quite manage it. "I handed in my resignation a couple of months after I started. It never quite… it was never quite as good as when I…" She stopped herself finally, and continued after a brief moment, "Never mind."

The three of them paused at the next crossing as Rose stabbed the button, which promptly instructed her to WAIT. "How long has it been for you?" the Doctor asked quietly, in a monotone.

Rose looked at him this time, and he was easily able to read the pain and sadness that was lurking in her eyes, behind the strong front she was putting up. She managed to choke out, "About a year and a half." There was a beeping from the crossing as the cars stopped and Rose took the opportunity to leap across the road. The Doctor stood stunned for a moment before following after her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, knowing that she could hear him. "I'm so sorry." And he meant it. He meant it with both of his hearts, and he was finally beginning to understand.

For him, it had only been a few days since he'd seen Pete catch Rose as she went through the void. For him, it had only been a few days since he'd seen her in Norway. For him, it had only been a few days since they'd been torn apart.

But for Rose, it had been a year and a half. A year and a half of feeling the pain of their separation. And if she'd been feeling half of the pain he had been feeling… well, it didn't really bear thinking about.

_**My dear Doctor, the path has never seemed more slow… God speed, my lonely angel.**_

The Doctor shook his head from side to side, his brain working out exactly how Rose was feeling right now. She had been living her life, day after day, on the slow path. The realisation of this hit the Doctor like a bullet wound to his chest.

He had never known what it was like to be stuck on the slow path. He hadn't even been worried about it, when he had seemingly been doomed to stay on it with Reinette in France. He hadn't had enough time to worry about it before a solution had cropped up. For him, solutions usually did. For Rose…

They reached the building and the automatic doors slid noiselessly open to let them in. The Doctor grimaced – although he was back with Rose, he had not gotten over what Torchwood had done, and what had happened. This was probably because of the fact that Rose hated him at the moment, but he hoped – oh, how he hoped – that this would pass.

They made their way over to a lift, and Rose paused at it, pressing the call button. The Doctor, never one for standing still for a long time, bounced on the balls of his feet.

When the lift opened, his jaw dropped. He couldn't stop staring at the woman who had stepped out, giving Rose a nod, a smile, and a quiet "Hello." He turned and was about to follow after her, regardless of Rose (he wasn't feeling particularly considerate today, he had noticed), when he felt a strong hand grip his arm and pull him into the lift. The doors closed after him, and Rose released him, a set expression on her face.

"That was… Rose, that was…" the Doctor babbled.

"I know," Rose said, pressing the button to go to the seventh floor. "Do you think I don't know? I've lived here for a year and a half, trying to get on with my life without you, and you think that you know more about this place than I do? I _know._"

"But… but Rose, that was Sarah-Jane Smith!"

"No, it wasn't," Rose said curtly, and fell silent.

The Doctor turned to her, and spun her to face him, holding her arms to her side with his hands. "Look, Rose, I know that at the moment you don't want to talk to me, for whatever reason – and that's fine, that's absolutely fine. But would you mind explaining to me what you're talking about? That's Sarah-Jane – I'd know her _anywhere_, why are you denying it?"

Rose looked up at him and shook herself free from his grip, turning to face the door once more. "I'm not denying anything," she said. "That isn't Sarah-Jane Smith… at least, not the one you know."

"She's from this universe?" the Doctor asked, surprised that this thought hadn't occurred to him any earlier. "I… and she's never…?"

"She's never heard of you. I've talked to her. We've become really good friends. I asked her things she would know, not outright of course, but enough to figure out from her reactions that she has no idea who you are." Rose paused, and turned her head slightly to look at the Doctor. "She told me to find her. One day, if I ever needed her."

The Doctor looked confused and quickly interrupted, "When did she…?"

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is I needed her, and she was there for me. You weren't there for me when I needed somebody. I'm sorry, Doctor, but that's the way things are."

The lift said, "Seventh floor." The doors slid open and Rose turned to face the exit.

"Now are you going to insist on coming to see my dad?"

The Doctor looked at her with sad eyes. "Yes. I'm going to stay with you, Rose. Because now I can. Before I couldn't."

"It doesn't make a difference," Rose said simply. "I needed you. And you left me alone." With these words, she walked out of the lift.

The Doctor cast Gary a look, and headed after Rose, pushing his hands into his coat pockets as he went.

x

The three of them walked along a narrow corridor in single file, in silence. Gary had decided that saying anything would not help the Doctor's situation, Rose was ignoring the Doctor completely, and the Doctor himself was getting quite agitated with what was going on. He was literally hopping along the corridor in his irritation, and even though Gary had only known him for a short space of time, he knew better than to disturb him.

They rounded a corner and Rose paused outside a large wooden door. She turned the handle, pushed it open, and walked inside. The Doctor and Gary followed; the latter of the two shut the door behind him and turned to inspect the room.

It was quite big, with beds stationed at intervals along the walls, on both sides. He could tell immediately which patient was Rose's father as she rushed over to the bedside of one of them, grasping the man's hand. The Doctor stayed back, and Gary did the same. None of the other members of the family had noticed the two people that had accompanied Rose.

"I'm fine, love," the man on the bed said, "really. I still don't know why you called her, Jacks, I'm perfectly fine…"

"What happened?" Rose breathed.

"I just–" Pete began, but Jackie cut him off.

"What happened? He just fell down a cliff side, didn't he!"

"For the last time, it wasn't a cliff side–"

"The equivalent of!" Jackie said, and turned to her daughter. "He was chasing one of those Cybermen – again – and it went down by the beach, you know that one you always go to? Slipped before he got to the ramp, fell about five metres onto sharp rocks–"

"Come on, Jackie," Pete said, his voice stern now, "it wasn't that bad."

"If Jim hadn't been there, God knows would have happened to you! You might have been left there or that bloody tin robot could have come back and–"

She stopped dead mid sentence. She had been gesticulating wildly and looking about the room, and when her eyes fell on the door, they soon fell on the Doctor.

"Oh my God… Rose… Rose!" she said, as if her daughter hadn't already seen the Doctor. "Rose, look! It's–"

Rose cut her mother off by nodding and saying, "I know. Did Jim get the Cyberman, Dad?"

Pete looked just as shocked as his wife at the sight of the Doctor, leaning against the doorframe, his hands in his trouser pockets, looking sombre. He recovered enough to answer his daughter's question.

"No, love," he said wearily. "Got away… out there somewhere. They won't let me go out to find him, though…"

"Good thing too," Rose said softly, "you don't look that great, Dad."

Pete grimaced. "Thanks, love."

The Doctor was desperate for a distraction that point, and would have turned tail and gone Cyberman hunting if it hadn't been for what he'd said earlier: 'I'm going to stay with you, Rose.' Luckily, Rose looked up at him merely seconds after this thought occurred, and said, "Doctor, go and find that Cyberman."

The Doctor was about to leap out of the room, it being a bit too close to domestic for him, before he said, "I'm coming back, Rose."

"All right," she answered nonchalantly, and the Doctor's face fell. He turned to Gary.

"Come on," he muttered, and left the room with a swish of his coat. Gary trotted loyally after him.

"Doctor?" Gary asked tentatively, and the Doctor gave a grunt in reply. Gary took this to mean go on, and he continued, "What's a Cyberman?"

"It's a human inside a robot body," he explained, "devoid of all emotion."

"Oh."

"Yep."

"So… what are we doing?"

The Doctor paused in his brisk walk down the corridor, turning his head to look Gary in the eye. He put on a voice that was just like the one he had used when telling the leader of the Sycorax just how much his new hand was a fighting hand, raising his eyebrows just as much as he had done back then, making use of this body's ultra expressive facial expressions. "We's goin' Cyber-huntin'!"


	8. Father-Daughter Time

_A/__N: Just a quick thank you for all of the lovely, faithful reviews/messages; I'm really glad you're enjoying it. And don't worry, it doesn't end for a while... there are four stories in the series :p_**  
**

**8. Father-Daughter Time**

Jackie had been fussing over Pete for a long time now, milling around his hospital bed and asking if he felt all right, whether he needed anything, to tell her if it started to hurt really badly and she'd get the doctor. No, not _the_ Doctor… _a_ doctor.

Her restlessness was infectious, and Rose found herself unable to sit down whilst Jackie was there, running around Pete's bedside like a headless chicken. She had told her mother to stop, sit down and have a rest several times, but Jackie ignored her for the most part, fussing around Pete and fluffing up his pillows.

Pete seemed to sense Rose's irritation at her mother's antics, and said to her about half an hour after the Doctor had left, "Why don't you go get us some tea, Rose? There's a little café near the lobby. Here…"

He turned to a chair beside him, where, Rose noticed, his trousers and shirt were lying. He leant over and fished some money out of his trouser pocket, handing it to her.

Rose looked down at the money and smiled, before turning her gaze back to Pete. "There's a café in Torchwood?"

"We get hungry and thirsty too, love!" Pete said, smiling back. "Now off you go…" He looked at Jackie, who continued to bounce around, rambling to herself about how he could have been killed. "Get decaffeinated for Jacks, will you?"

That's where Rose was now: in the line at the Torchwood café, waiting to order two take away cups of tea, one decaffeinated, and pay for her bottle of water. The café was actually quite in demand, something that Rose had not expected. The queues were fairly long and she'd been waiting for five minutes at least, time enough to mull over the confusing events in her life at the moment.

The Doctor. She had no idea what to say to him, nor what to do about him. It was clear to her that she was hurting him incredibly, but she was just so _confused._ As far as she could tell, they had been best friends. But she had been able to feel the chemistry there; she had known there was something else.

Neither of them had said anything, and maybe that was just the Doctor's way. But she had grown fed up of the Doctor's way, which had brought her to saying what she did in Norway. And she still didn't know what he had wanted to say in reply. Maybe she never would.

Not only did she not know what to say to him, Rose felt really stupid. She had announced her love for him, and he hadn't done the same. Rose hadn't reacted to that very well; she'd always 'got the guy', so to speak, and the thought that the Doctor might not love her back made her feel empty inside.

"Two teas. One of them decaffeinated, thanks. To take away," Rose said, sliding the water onto the counter. "And this." The queue had gone quite quickly, now she thought about it. Better for her; she was able to get back to her distracting parents sooner now.

The girl serving her hurried off to order her tea, and returned not long afterwards, taking Rose's money and handing her change. Rose grabbed her water, shoved the money in her pocket, and moved along, waiting at the next counter where the finished beverages were placed.

After a couple of minutes, two take away cardboard cups were placed on the surface in front of Rose. She slid her water under her armpit and took them in her hands, wandering back to the hospital wing.

When she reached it, she noted how Jackie was still not sitting down, but was now bending over a cot next to Pete's bed and fussing over Sophie. Rose heaved a sigh as Pete sat up and took the tea in his two hands, uttering a word of thanks. Rose moved to her mother and handed her the tea also.

It was at this point that Jackie sat down, cuddling the tea to her and smiling. "Ooh, thanks Rose; nice cup of tea, that'll do me. Oh, it's like bed time isn't it? Blimey, I'm tired…"

Rose looked over at Pete, who gave her a nod. "Mum," Rose began, "why don't you just head home? Dad and I can look after Sophie for you; Dad's fine for the moment, I'll be here for them. You look shattered."

Jackie sipped at her tea and looked at Rose, before nodding gently. "Yes… yes, you're right, love, I am. Right, I'm going to head off home then; you two sure you'll be all right with Sophie?"

"We'll be fine, Mum. Just get some rest, all right?" Rose smiled at her mother as she left the room, giving all three of them a quick peck on the cheek as she left.

Rose unscrewed the top of her bottle and drank some water. "You really okay, Dad?" Rose asked, and Pete nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Jackie's just blowing things out of proportion, that's all." Rose grinned at Pete and was about to sit down in the same chair that Jackie had just vacated, when he continued, "So, what about the Doctor then?"

Rose leapt up, not even touching the chair. "What do you mean?"

"He was here, love. Unless I've got really bad concussion, I don't think I imagined it; and I don't think I have really bad concussion, do I?" Rose shook her head. "No, I don't. So come on… tell me."

Rose's strong front suddenly broke down, exceedingly quickly, and she began to sob uncontrollably, still clutching her water. "I don't know!" she wailed.

"You don't know what?"

"Why he's here… how he got here… I have no idea, I don't know anything anymore and… and I can't talk to him. I don't know what to say and I know I'm hurting him, but I can't stop because I'm so scared he'll just leave me again if I open up to him _again _– I couldn't cope with it, Dad, I… I just couldn't cope…"

"Talk to him," Pete said, interrupting her gently.

"Wha… what?" Rose hiccoughed, her eyes large and round.

"Talk to him about it. You're hurting just as much as he is, love, and neither of you deserve to be feeling like that. So talk to him about how you're feeling and maybe he'll be able to make you feel better about it."

"But I–"

"He's made you feel so much better in the past, hasn't he?"

"Yes, but–"

"And you love him." Rose didn't have anything to say to that; but it did stop her making hiccoughing noises for the time being. "You do. And from what I've seen, he loves you too. He wouldn't have come back if he didn't, am I right?"

"I–"

"I bet the first thing he did in this world was to come and find you."

"But I don't know th–"

"You have faith in him, don't you?"

"I used to," Rose answered quietly. "But then he left me–"

"Not out of choice," Pete reminded her.

"No, but–"

"Talk to him."

"But I can't, I–" And this time, Rose wasn't interrupted by Pete, but by herself. She had tried to sit down, but gave a shriek as something hard pressed into her skin. She fumbled in her back pocket and drew out a long metal tube with a dull blue light at the end of it. "Oh my God – he's gone to face a Cyberman without his sonic screwdriver," she said softly, her face terrified as she stared at the object in her hand.

"Now you definitely need to talk to him," Pete said urgently. "You've got to find him quickly Rose… if he hasn't realised, he could be in a lot of trouble right now."

"Oh my God," Rose repeated, and after a quick check that Pete would be all right with Sophie ("We're in a hospital, love, of course I will be."), she was out of the door and running for_ his_ life.


	9. Beaches

**9. Beaches**

The Doctor and Gary had headed back to the Tyler mansion and decided to start from there. The former of the two had not asked Pete where the Cyberman had been, which probably would have been a good idea, in retrospect. Of course, he knew it was a beach, and it had a ramp, but which one? There must be loads of beaches around, and there was no guarantee that the Cyberman would still be there… after all, it may not have been stupid enough to stay in the same place.

So the Doctor had made the decision to ask the people around if there was a beach anywhere near. They headed into the town and started doing just that. It didn't take too long to find someone who told them that there was one about a quarter of a mile away. There had been a brief delay whilst the Doctor insisted he bought an ice cream, and then they began to walk.

Gary had started complaining about the sheer amount of walking they were about to do, but the Doctor was too lost in his own thoughts to bother about a whiny adolescent… well, whining at him. He had grunted in response and licked his ice cream studiously, savouring the taste and thinking deeply at the same time.

They were at the beach now, scouring it for any sign of Cyberman movement. The Doctor had started at one end of the beach and Gary had started at the other end. After a fair amount of searching (the beach was not very big, and this worked to their advantage), they met in the middle.

"Find anything?" the Doctor asked.

"No," Gary said.

"Neither did I. It's odd, isn't it? You'd think it'd leave something… a footprint… or… I don't know. Just something. It's a massive metal man – massive metal man, I like it, that's alliteration – anyway, surely it would leave some mark or something…"

"Maybe it didn't go on the beach," Gary suggested. "That woman never said it actually went onto the beach, just that her husband slipped off the ramp."

"True, true…"

"So… what does it look like?"

"I just told you," the Doctor said, his voice slightly whiny. "It's a massive metal man – can't get over that alliteration. Taller than your average human, big circle in the middle of its face… metal head…"

"Doesn't sound like the kind of thing I want to meet," Gary said, with a touch of indecision in his voice that the Doctor picked up.

"Oh, you'll be all right. If you find it, just yell and I'll come running!"

Gary looked saddened for a moment. "All right then. You search on the roads and I'll look around here for a bit more," he said. "I'll see you up there in a bit."

"Right, yes, good idea. See you in a bit."

x

"Doctor–"

"Gary! Hello! Look, I think I found something. It's not much, just an imprint, barely recognisable, but I think it's just enough… if I'm very clever, which I am." The Doctor pointed to a muddy patch on the grass on the side of the road. "It's a footprint. Well, sort of. It's more like…"

"A splat?" Gary suggested.

"Yes." The Doctor grinned at him and crouched down in order to inspect the mud.

"Doctor, I need to tell you something."

"Thing is, why would a Cyberman be at the beach in the first place?" The Doctor stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Don't you think it'd rather be going around killing people? It didn't kill Pete when he fell, and it could have done. Why do you think that is?"

"Doctor–"

"It just doesn't make sense. It's freezing today, why would anyone be at the beach? The Cyberman must have known that there was going to be no one here, so why did it come here in the first place? I don't know…"

The Doctor stood up and turned to face Gary, except it wasn't Gary anymore, but the Cyberman itself. The Doctor looked only slightly put out by this, and plastered a grin on his face pretty quickly. "Hello, um. Is this your footprint?"

"You are the Doctor, confirm."

"Yes, that's me! Hello." The Doctor pulled on his ear nervously with one hand, wiggling his fingers in a greeting with the other.

"You will surrender and accompany me."

"Ah, see, don't think I will actually, all the same. Thanks, though." The Doctor took a step backwards, and the Cyberman held out an arm.

"You will hold your position."

"Will I, indeed? Yes, well… see, the thing is, I don't particularly like to be ordered around… well honestly, who does? Anyway, I think I'll just… um…"

The Doctor had been fumbling in his jacket pocket for his sonic screwdriver, and all he had found was a bouncy ball that he'd placed in there a long time ago now. He hadn't dared delve deeper; the sonic screwdriver was meant to be near the top, anyway.

And then it hit him. He'd left it with Rose; or rather, she'd taken it and put it in her back pocket, keeping it because she didn't trust him. And in the heat of the moment, the adrenaline rush that was following after the Cyberman, and the hurt that was Rose rejecting him, the Doctor had forgotten this very simple, and yet so important fact.

"Ah. Right then, um…"

The Cyberman had been motionless throughout this, and said, "You will surrender and accompany me."

"Yes, well… thing is… I could come with you, sure I could. But you're not very _fast_, are you? So I could probably, say, outrun you, if I go right n–"

The Doctor stopped mid sentence, and not out of choice; after all, he never stopped talking out of choice. It was because something had hit him soundly around the head. His eyes lolling upwards and then closing, the Doctor collapsed sideways, crumpling onto the floor.


	10. So Maybe I'm The One That Needed Saving

**10. So Maybe I'm The One That Needed Saving**

He awoke to an extremely painful headache. In fact, it hurt so much that he wouldn't have been surprised if it was two headaches. There was also a large amount of pain sweeping through his whole body, and he could feel himself trembling.

With a groan, he opened his eyes.

He was sitting in a chair. His coat and jacket had been removed, so that he was in his light blue shirt and tie. His wrists were strapped down to the armrests and his ankles were equally tied to the legs of the chair. Weakly, the Doctor tugged at his restraints. They didn't give.

He raised his head and looked at his surroundings. He was in a grey room with a concrete floor. It was perhaps some kind of disused warehouse. He narrowed his eyes, trying to think back to whether he'd seen one of these around. His mind and his potential numerous headaches weren't helping him at the moment.

There were large double doors opposite him, and they were closed. There was a slight bit of light coming through them, but not much.

He heard familiar footsteps and looked down, waiting until they stopped. When they did, he looked up again to see the Cyberman from the beach standing a few metres from him, obscuring the view of the door. Then again, it might have been a different Cyberman; they all looked the same, after all. No individuality.

"Where's Gary?" the Doctor asked, almost immediately, his voice low and dangerous.

"He has been deleted," the Cyberman stated.

"What?" the Doctor exclaimed. "Why? What for?"

"He was uncooperative."

The Doctor swore in his own language, pulling at his bonds. "So he was 'deleted' because he didn't want to be turned into a giant metal man? That's not at all understandable."

"He wished to go back on our plans," the Cyberman said in a monotone.

"So you 'deleted' – what did you say?"

"He wished to go back on our plans."

"Your plans?"

"I needed the Doctor in this universe. After the battle of Canary Wharf I followed Rose Tyler and her family because you would try to come back to her. When you didn't, I intervened."

"You pulled the TARDIS into this universe?" the Doctor asked, stunned.

"Yes. I set up a connection between Rose Tyler's key and your machine by using a human from your world."

"Gary was…"

"He stepped inside your machine just as I activated the connection. I knew it would bring you to your machine if it began to move and so I had him make something that sounded as if he had a second heartbeat. Your ship recognised this and thought it was you."

The Doctor remained silent for a moment, trying to take everything in, wriggling slightly. "But she would have noticed it wasn't me," he muttered, more to himself. "Surely she would have realised…"

"Rose Tyler pulled your ship into this universe and you arrived three months after she activated the key."

"But why did you need _me_?"

"Once the Cybermen had John Lumic's intelligence, and now they need yours."

Suddenly, it clicked. "Oh… I see. You're the last Cyberman in this universe, and _you _think I'm going to help you make more Cybermen. That's why I haven't been 'deleted'…"

"You will cooperate, or you will be deleted."

The Doctor heaved a sigh and leant back in the chair, testing the restraints again. All he was doing was making his wrists and ankles hurt. He was completely powerless; he didn't have his sonic screwdriver, he was strapped down to a chair, and there was a giant metal man looming over him demanding his assistance. He couldn't think; the only thought filling his mind was that of Rose and whether she was all right, why she couldn't talk to him, couldn't touch him. He was unable to think his way out of this because she was currently occupying every single corner of his brain.

"But what's the point?" he said finally. "If I help you, all you'll do is kill millions and millions of people. The earth on this universe will just become a giant, metal planet. Haven't we been through this already…? Oh… never mind."

The Cyberman stayed still, staring at him. The Doctor hated not being able to read the emotions on its face. "I'm not going to help you," the Doctor said resignedly. "'Delete' me if you must. It's not like I've got anything to live for anymore."

The Cyberman took a step forward. "You will cooperate, or you will be deleted."

"I heard you the first time."

"Then you will be deleted."

"Suits me."

Suddenly, there was a great clanking noise, as the double doors were scraped open. The Cyberman stepped to the side, allowing the Doctor a view of the door again.

It was like the time she had come to save him from the Daleks, back in his previous regeneration. But this time she was not the Bad Wolf. She was not surrounded by golden light, but the way the Doctor looked at her, she could have been. She was just Rose. His fantastic, brilliant Rose.

She raised her hand and there was a whirring noise, and a blue light. The sight of the sonic screwdriver comforted the Doctor. He would've thought he would feel completely helpless strapped to a chair, but he felt so secure. He knew that everything was in capable hands. Rose would be fine.

He watched as the Cyberman began to shake. What setting had Rose set it to? The Doctor hastily cast his mind back to when he'd last used it. The boys. The seaweed. Breaking the rock's foundations and the seaweed around his wrist. The fracdicate paraphernalia setting. The one that broke things.

And right now, it was breaking the circuits in the Cyberman's chest. As it fell to its knees and collapsed forward, Rose shoved the sonic screwdriver into her jeans pocket and ran forward, pulling at the straps binding the Doctor to the chair. He could see her face was tear-streaked, and waited patiently, saying nothing, although he desperately wanted to.

Finally, Rose appeared to get bored and took the sonic screwdriver out again, aiming it at the bonds around his wrists and ankles. When they broke, she stepped back, slipping the screwdriver back into her pocket, watching him.

The Doctor stood up painfully, rubbing his wrists. He felt odd without his jacket and coat, and subconsciously looked around for them, even though he should have been concentrating on Rose.

"I'm sorry."

At her words, the Doctor turned to look at her, and she was crying now, tears falling down her face freely. And then she began to run, towards him, launching herself into his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck. He was stunned, but only for a moment. It wasn't long before his arms snaked around her waist, holding her close to him as if he never wanted to release her.


	11. Jacket & Coat

**11. Jacket & Coat**

"Oh my God, I'm sorry," Rose said, breaking the spell she had over the Doctor as she disentangled herself from his grip. "Are you okay?" Unnecessarily, she began to brush him down. The Doctor felt distinctly like he was being mothered.

He caught her wrists and smiled at her, his eyes meaning the smile too. "I'm fine," he said sincerely, and he felt Rose go limp in his grip. He released her. "Though I really want my jacket back. And my coat. I really like that coat."

Rose couldn't help laughing at the whine in his voice, before she looked over at the fallen Cyberman. "He's not going to get back up, is he?" she asked quietly.

The Doctor stepped over to the metal man and crouched down, surveying it with his gaze. "No," he said, and sounded relieved, "it's not."

Rose smiled slightly before remembering suddenly and fishing the sonic screwdriver out of her pocket. "Here," she said, and chucked it at him as he stood up. He caught it, closing his fingers around it and relishing the feeling of security that it gave him.

"Thank you."

He didn't know for how long they stood there, just looking at each other in silence. His hand was still out; his fingers wrapped around the sonic screwdriver, his expression, he presumed, a little open mouthy.

The moment was somewhat broken by a loud groaning from somewhere deep within the warehouse. The Doctor was first to react; he turned and began sprinting towards the noise. It didn't sound inhuman to him; in fact, it sounded very human indeed. And anything that sounded human was a welcome noise in the awkward silence.

He skidded to a halt in front of a locked metal door, and fiddled with the screwdriver until it was at the right setting. By this time, Rose had run up behind him, panting slightly. She was clearly unused to all the running around she had been accustomed to when she'd travelled with the Doctor previously.

The Doctor ran the screwdriver over the lock, which clicked open quite happy. He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"Oh my God," he heard Rose utter behind him, and then she was past him, kneeling on the floor, her arms wrapped around Gary, who was just coming round.

"Ooh," the Doctor stated, his face contorted at the sight of a welling bruise on Gary's head.

"Is he going to be all right?" The Time Lord responded with silence, his expression one of distaste for the man who had been trying to trap him the whole time. "Doctor!"

"Yes! Sorry. Should be fine." He began to roll down his sleeves, his bare flesh covered in goose bumps. There was a draft coming through the door that Rose had entered the warehouse with, and the Doctor could tell that it was windy outside.

Rose released Gary and he put his hand up to the bruise on his forehead, his face twisted in intense amounts of pain. "Oh God, that smarts."

The Doctor stepped forward and crouched down beside him, adjusting his screwdriver and then aiming it at Gary's head. He turned it on and ran it from left to right along his forehead, and then back again. "It wiped his memory," he said, shock in his voice.

Gary suddenly clocked the Doctor, and hurriedly backed away along the floor, before leaping to his feet. Both Rose and the Doctor stood at the same time. "Stay away from me!" Gary bellowed, his eyes terrified as he drank in the Doctor's appearance. The Doctor absent-mindedly scratched the back of his head as Rose stepped forward, towards Gary. He did not seem scared of her.

"Gary? It's all right. I'm Rose and he's the Doctor. We're not going to hurt you."

"You're not! He is!" Gary managed to gasp. He reached behind him and grabbed something, holding it out in front of them for all to see. "This his?"

A grin spread across the Doctor's features and his eyes lit up. "My jacket!" he said, his voice obviously extremely pleased. He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked to the right, spotting his long brown coat behind Gary as well. "And my coat!"

Rose cleared her throat loudly and the Doctor looked over to her, the grin immediately disappearing off his face. "Sorry."

"Anyway!" Rose said, using the tone of voice she favoured when speaking as though the Doctor was a particularly emotionally stunted child who needed to be silenced sooner rather than later, "That's his jacket, yeah."

"There was a man," Gary said, his voice shaking. He sounded close to tears. "He was… he was wearing this. He hit me. And then he… oh God, I can't remember. I can't even remember. He took my memories!"

The Doctor leaned to the left, towards Rose, lowering his voice into a conspiratorial whisper, "It didn't just _wipe_ his memory… it modified it completely." He made his voice louder, stepping a little closer to Gary and holding out his hand for his jacket. "I'm not going to hurt you, Gary. Come on. Give that to me."

Gary's grip tightened around the clothing, but he remained silent. The Doctor took this as a good sign, and stepped forward a couple of steps more.

Gary dropped the jacket and swung forward, punching him in the abdomen. Then he ran, out of the warehouse, as the Doctor doubled over and clutched his stomach, his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

Rose made to go after him, but the Doctor had turned. He held out a hand and wheezed, "Don't. Let him go. We'll find him later."

Rose looked at the Doctor and went to retrieve his jacket from the floor, waiting for him to recover and straighten up, before holding it out to him.

"Thank you," he murmured, taking it from her and shrugging it on, wincing from every movement he made. He tucked the sonic screwdriver into his inside pocket, buttoned his cuffs, and, feeling the pain ebb away, took his coat from the floor, pulling it on.

"So who tied you up?" Rose asked, rubbing her arms and trying to get a little bit of conversation moving. "I can't see a Cyberman taking time to do that to someone."

"No, neither can I," the Doctor admitted. "It was probably Gary."

"Gary?" Rose asked.

"Yes, Gary," the Doctor replied. "Long story." He rubbed his face with both hands agitatedly. "Doesn't matter. Now we just need to find Gary. I'm sure we can do that from inside the TARDIS." He strode towards the door and turned slightly when he saw that Rose was not following. "You coming?"

There was a brief pause, and the Doctor could see several emotions run across Rose's face. "Yeah, of course," she said, finally, and the Doctor let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding.

x

It was the first time she'd been in the TARDIS for a long time. Whilst she had been counting the days before the Doctor had arrived, now he was here she had forgotten how many she had gotten up to.

It was the same as she'd always remembered. Rose had been surprised at that, at first, but then she realised that it hadn't been too long for the Doctor, and therefore it hadn't been too long for the TARDIS, either.

She touched one of the pillars softly, smiling as it warmed to her touch. "She remembers you!" the Doctor said in a barely intelligible voice, and she looked over at him. His head was poking out from between the grating of the TARDIS, the sonic screwdriver held between his teeth. He was fiddling with two wires, his expression concentrated. Bless him.

He had said, as soon as they had entered the police box, that she needed some tinkering doing before they were able to find Gary. He had immediately hopped underneath the grating and had been under there for quite some time whilst Rose stared blindly about the ship.

A rush of emotions had come flooding back to Rose as he had thrown his coat over one of the pillars and ran forward, pulling the sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket. And now, as she walked towards the console and sat in the seat by it, she felt content for the first time in a long time. She reached forward and grabbed a metal ball from where it was resting next to the screen. She recognised it as the ball he had been playing with as Big Ears, when they'd met Margaret Blaine for the second time. Idly, she tossed it from hand to hand.

"She's an egg!" the Doctor chirruped happily, as though reading her mind. He was back underneath the grating now, lying on his back and using the sonic screwdriver on several more wires.

"She's an egg," Rose repeated softly, smiling. She replaced the ball as the Doctor climbed up and replaced the grating.

"There we go! All done. Now to find Gary, and then we can be off!" He was bouncing happily around the console, smiling in that annoyingly catchy way of his. Rose was certain that she had made him happy like that. She stood up and purposefully got in his way, so that he had to grind to a halt. His expression turned to neutral very quickly. "Ooh. Hello."

"Hello," Rose whispered, and grinned, her tongue poking between her teeth. She reached up, pulling his tie out from beneath his buttoned jacket. She had a vague recollection of doing this some time in the past, but couldn't for the life of her remember when it was. His expression was confused, and she didn't blame him, really. Only an hour or so ago she had been hardly speaking to him.

She'd lost him once. Now she had him again, she was going to keep him close to her. Slowly, she began to unbutton his jacket. The Doctor looked down at her hands, his brow creased. His expression was still bewildered, but quite complacent. He reminded her of a schoolboy who didn't really know what was happening to him.

As she undid the last button, he seemed to snap out of his blissful ignorance. "Rose, I'm not sure that it's a good idea for us to be–"

She silenced him with a fierce kiss to his lips. Placing her hand on the back of his head, she held him to her and kissed him as though she was drowning and he was her oxygen, as though she was dying and he was her salvation. And in a way, he was.

It really struck her how cold he was to kiss. His hand had always felt cool in hers, but she had presumed that that was just his manner, not that he was physically colder than humans. At first, the kiss was slightly awkward, as the Doctor clearly had no idea how to react to the situation. But after a few seconds, he visibly relaxed and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her back.

They pulled apart after a few moments, only inches from each other's faces.

"Well," Rose said, breaking the silence.

"Well, well," the Doctor said, and they dissolved into laughter for a moment, before silence fell again.

"Rose–" the Doctor began, and then stopped, his breath hitching in his throat. "Are you sure you want this?"

"Are you?" was Rose's reply.

The Doctor thought it over in his mind. At least, he would have done, if he had not been so occupied by the fact that Rose was pressing up _right_ against him. "I don't know," he said, slightly deliriously.

"Neither do I."

And before long, they were kissing again.


	12. Blessing or Curse

**12. Blessing/Curse**

As soon as Rose had fallen asleep, he'd covered her gently with a sheet to protect her modesty and then got redressed himself. It didn't take too long, and as soon as he was done he climbed back into bed with her, wrapping his arms around her waist and tugging her close to him gently, careful not to wake her.

He couldn't quite believe his lack of willpower. He felt like he had 'MUST TRY HARDER' stamped right across his forehead in bright letters. This was never meant to happen; this_ shouldn't_ have happened. And it was all his fault. Poor, innocent Rose.

He stroked her hair softly, breathing onto her neck as he watched her smile in her sleep. He felt incredibly guilty; not so much because he had done it, but at how not guilty he felt about doing it, and how incredible it had been. Because it was that… incredible. Not just incredible, it was brilliant. And it was all his fault.

A part of him knew that he should be going to find Gary now, that he would be causing more trouble than he was worth, just because of his own memories (or lack thereof). But the Doctor had a _time machine_. Did it really matter if he lay here until Rose woke up? Would the universe implode because the Doctor was, for the first time in a long time, content with his own existence?

For so long, he'd been so alone. When the Time Lords died, he thought it was the end of him. He wanted it to be the end of him, so consumed was he by his guilt. But then he took a hand, drew a breath, and said a word: _"Run._" And suddenly he had had something to live for. The blonde girl who followed him everywhere, who had promised him forever and who intended to stick to that promise, no matter what happened.

They'd played dress up before they'd headed towards the bedroom. The TARDIS' wardrobe was always a great place to play dress up, as one would expect, and Rose insisted that they go, as she'd missed having as many clothes as she wanted to choose from.

Rose had told him to pick out an outfit for her that he liked and thought would suit her. She had then left him for a while whilst he sifted through piles upon piles of clothes that he disliked. The no pile next to him was growing so big after about twenty minutes that he was worried it was going to collapse and bury him underneath, never to be seen again. So, quite sensibly he thought, he started a new no pile.

By the time Rose came back, he wasn't any closer to finding an outfit that would suit her. In fact, he wasn't even slightly close. Rose had proclaimed him useless and shoved a suit at him.

"Wear it," she had said. "You always wear those brown pinstripes. Try this."

The Doctor had been about to trot off and oblige when she threw a pair of shoes at him. "And these," she had said. "You need to try a change of shoes too."

It was five minutes later that the Doctor appeared from behind the clothes rack, wearing a blue pinstripe suit and red Converse trainers. She had chosen an outfit that was almost exactly the same as his previous one, but with a few slight colour alterations. Credit to her. He pulled at his red tie nervously and moved his head from side to side. "Well?" he had said.

Rose had smiled and said: "Brilliant!" Her imitation of him had been impressive. And then she had said, "Now take it off!"

And here they were. He was wearing the blue suit now, with the red Converses. He had checked himself out in the mirror before coming to lie back down with Rose, and he had to admit, it was _not _too shabby, not too shabby at all.

The Doctor traced a long finger along Rose's jaw line, and she shivered, but did not wake up. He couldn't help a smile as he planted a kiss to her cheek and disentangled himself from her. He could have lain there until eternity ended, but there was work to be done, Gary to be found, and holes in the fabric of reality to be closed up. He was a Time Lord. He couldn't ignore all of that for long.

He made his way to the console room and leant on the TARDIS' control panel, thinking deeply. Where on the parallel universe was he going to start looking for Gary? The man was clearly terrified, and wouldn't let the Doctor get anywhere near him. The Doctor rubbed the back of his head, his face scrunched up as he tried to think where to start.

And then it hit him. Where did every single human who wanted to complain about something or someone go? The police station. The Doctor hit a few buttons on the control panel and the sound of the universe filled his ears. It soothed him, as his hearts were still beating furiously over what he had just done. Was it a blessing or a curse?

The TARDIS arrived and the Doctor grabbed his coat, pulling it on and opening the door. It took about three seconds after he closed the door for him to get completely drenched. It was raining, heavily. The Doctor looked around the town, his eyes screwed up as he looked around for someone, anyone who could help him. Unfortunately, it seemed that no one but he was insane enough to be out in the pouring rain, and that was fair enough, really. His plan had been to ask around, but since that plan was now, safe to say, quite out of the window, he had no choice but to go back inside the TARDIS and wait for Rose to wake up.

He pushed the door open and kicked it shut behind him as he went back inside, pulling his coat off and throwing it back over one of the pillars. He ran his hands through his hair several times, making it stick up terribly, so that it would dry that way. He then made his way to the jump seat, deciding that going back to the bed where Rose was lying was not a good idea. Instead, he sat down and resigned himself to waiting.

x

"Hello!"

The Doctor looked over his Converses to see Rose standing at the entrance to the room, dressed in black jeans, a black top and the purple jacket that Donna had found. The moment she had yelled at him to hurry up and lose her too, it had almost broken his hearts. Almost.

"Hello!" he replied, a grin spreading across his features as he removed his feet from resting on the console, and leapt to them.

"It suits you," Rose said, smiling. "The suit, I mean."

"Is it sexy?"

She laughed a little at that, clearly reminded of when he had not known himself after he regenerated for the last time. "It's sexy," she confirmed, and he grinned, if possible, even wider.

"Brilliant. Now, we need to find Gary. Any ideas?"

"No," Rose said quickly. "Can we head back to my house, though? I need to tell Mum where I am, and I think Dad'll be back now."

"Yeah, sure." The Doctor punched a few buttons and pulled a lever, turning to face Rose again after he was finished. "And _then_ we can go and try to find Gary. Don't want him doing any damage to himself, do we?"

x

"But where have you _been_?"

"Mum, just leave him–"

"Rose, love, I just want an answer. He goes off for God knows how long, leaving you depressed out of your skull–"

"Honestly, Mum," Rose said, her voice sharp now. She didn't want the Doctor to know how weak she had felt without him. "Leave him alone."

They were all in the living room of the Tyler mansion. Rose was sitting on one of the armchairs, bouncing Sophie in her lap. Pete and Jackie were sitting side by side on one of the couches, and the Doctor was standing up, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest.

He had thought this was going to be a quick stop whilst Rose said hi, explained where she'd been (leaving out certain details that he didn't want repeating), and then they'd leave again to find Gary. As it was, it had turned out to be much more complicated than that. Even after only a few days, he'd forgotten quite how argumentative Jackie was. He made a mental note for the future: _never_ forgot how argumentative Rose's mum is.

"Well," he said, to break the stony silence that had accompanied what Rose had last said, "Rose and I need to go and find a man. A specific man. And, well, it'd be easier if we could just leave. You know, sort of… now-ish."

The glare he got from Jackie was, in short, unbelievably scary. He may have been a nine hundred year old Time Lord, and he may have fought so many monsters in his lifetime, but Jackie was something else. She was something that made him want to run and run and run, out the door, into the street, back into the TARDIS and across to his own universe where she couldn't get at him. She was a mother. He couldn't even look her in the eye, and he was terrified that she had noticed, and that she would_ know._

Only then, did the Doctor begin to regret what he and Rose had done.

"Yes." Rose's voice cut in to the Doctor's thoughts, bringing him back to reality to a painful thud. "We do need to go and find him; he's called Gary. He was the man at the hospital, do you remember?"

Jackie shook her head, her piercing eyes still angrily fixed on the Doctor, but Pete was nodding. "I remember him," he said. "I saw him in the town on the way back here. It was about an hour ago now."

"That's where we'll start, then," Rose said, smiling. She picked Sophie up and stood, wandering over to Jackie. The shy little girl tugged on Rose's sleeve and gave her a meaningful look, before looking straight at the Doctor. He immediately felt guilty again, and cringed subconsciously. Did every single female in this room have an instinct that would tell them what another female got up to in their spare time? Even the one year olds amongst them?

Rose giggled slightly and wagged her finger at her sister, giving her a quick peck on the forehead before passing her to her mother. "We'll be back soon, Mum," she announced, and then she grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulled him out of the room.


	13. Goodbyes

**13. Goodbyes**

Finding Gary had been surprisingly easy. The Doctor had felt a bit guilty at first, as it seemed to be his fault that the poor, deranged man was wandering the town in the pouring rain, ranting about how a man in a brown pinstripe jacket had tortured him. The Doctor had wondered briefly just how the Cyberman had affected Gary's memories in such a way, and how they had done it so accurately, but he didn't like to dwell on it too long, as every time he did so his wrists and ankles started to pain him.

Rose had convinced Gary to come into the TARDIS; something that Gary did not recognise, luckily. The Doctor had hid behind the console as she had caringly led him to the infirmary and healed his wounds. The Doctor had showed her how to do this before they had even started looking for him, as it was likely that Gary would need the help, and wouldn't let the Doctor administer it. Rose had then injected him with a sleeping drug and led him to the room that the TARDIS had prepared for him. He had fallen asleep almost immediately.

"You can come out of hiding," Rose had said, and the Doctor had jumped up, stretching. It had been uncomfortable, twisted up on the floor of the TARDIS and trying not to move in case he was noticed and Gary was sent into a frenzy again. He was glad that he was now able to stand up without having to worry about being noticed.

And here they were now, sitting on the jump seat of the TARDIS together. His arm was around her, and she felt safer than she had in a long time. But not safe enough. She could feel his love for her easily, but the Doctor had been quite skittish around her ever since they'd bonded physically. She was beginning to think that maybe it had not been a good idea, and that it was to be their downfall.

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked softly.

"What are _we_ going to do now," the Doctor stressed. "Well, we'll have to go back to our universe, and I'll close the breach, of course." Rose was about to say something when he went on, "You can say goodbye to your family, obviously, and we can go back to being the stuff of legend." He leant forward so he could see her face and she could see his. He was grinning widely. "That all right?"

Rose smiled back, and nodded. "Fantastic," she said, and raised her hand to pat his cheek, almost as if he was a child. She couldn't have been happier… could she? Something was at the back of her mind, something she couldn't quite put her finger on, something niggling, like a very irritating itch that she couldn't reach to scratch.

"So what did happen to Mickey, then?" the Doctor asked.

Rose slumped visibly. The Doctor seemed to realise he'd said the wrong thing, and held her closer to him. "Rose?" he said softly, brushing a piece of hair out of her eyes.

"He's dead," Rose managed to choke out.

The Doctor was too shocked to say anything at first. Then he managed to repeat, "Dead?"

"It was about a year ago now," Rose said softly. "He was… Mum was pushing Sophie in the pram across the road and… he ran forward and pushed them both out of the way. It was a fifteen year old at the wheel." She paused and swallowed loudly. "It was… such a waste." She continued, in a smaller voice than the one she had used before, "I miss him."

The Doctor nodded and hugged her closer, not sure what to do in order to cheer her up. "Let's go back to your house. Gary will be all right for the moment."

"Okay."

x

The Doctor wished he hadn't followed Rose into the mansion like a puppy dog. It didn't take him long to curse himself from not remaining in the TARDIS and waiting impatiently for Rose to return. He'd forgotten the atmosphere in the house, and had already been called a 'filthy alien' by Jackie for wanting some jam.

"I know what you want jam for," she had shouted at him. "I've seen you stick your fingers in it before and I'm damned if I'm going to let you do it again." The Doctor had hastily put his hands up and backed away. It was easier to surrender than argue.

Rose had insisted on watching her favourite program on television before they left or even started with the goodbyes, and he hadn't even bothered to ask what that was; he was far too scared of being roped into watching it.

Finally, however, they were ready to go, and the Doctor was glad. He was tired of Rose's little sister tugging on his trouser leg and giggling for no discernable reason, tired of Rose's mother glaring at him, tired of Rose's father looking sympathetic.

Saying goodbye was clearly painful for Rose. She gathered her sister up in her arms and hugged her so tight that Jackie thought, for a moment, that both her children would explode. Rose was crying by the time she got round to kissing her parents goodbye, and when that was over, only when that was over, did she and the Doctor head back to the TARDIS.

He ran towards the console immediately, hitting a button and about to do more in order for them to head back to their own world. But Rose had shut the door quietly and quickly come up behind him. She was next to him almost as soon as he got there himself, and grabbed his arm gently, stopping him from doing anything more.

"Doctor," she said seriously – and he could tell that she wasn't in the mood for messing around because her eyes told him just how serious she was, "before we go… we need to talk."


	14. Final Goodbyes

_A/N: Try not to hate this one, and if you do, try to hate it instead of, you know, me. There are 3 (or 4, probably 3) stories in this series that have already been written, the first chapter of which I'll have up either today or tomorrow. /hides from the hate_

**14. Final Goodbyes**

_"The smile on your face lets me know that you need me,_

_There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me,_

_The touch of your hand says you'll catch me whenever I fall,_

_You say it best when you say nothing at all"_

_When You Say Nothing At All – Ronan Keating_

The Doctor nodded, a happy smile on his face. "A talk it is! With some tea maybe. Do you want some tea? Tea and a talk! Alliteration! I love alliteration. Tea goes well with a talk!" He trailed off and the smile left his face as he saw Rose's expression.

"I need you to do something for me," Rose said softly, and the Doctor could tell that she was not happy, even though the tears had not yet started.

The Doctor nodded, his eyes full of concern. "What?"

"I need you to tell me that you don't regret what happened before."

The Doctor knew instantly what she was talking about, and didn't quite know how to reply. He couldn't tell her that he didn't regret it, because he did, in part. He was glad that it had happened, and doubted that he would have swapped the decision for another one, but he wasn't certain that it had been the right thing to do. He shrugged as nonchalantly as he could, in response.

Rose sighed and her eyes welled up with tears as she realised that the Doctor would not answer her, could not answer her. Something was stopping him.

"Ask me to come with you." She needed him to ask her, because she knew that whatever answer she replied with would be the one that she meant. She wouldn't be one hundred per cent sure unless he asked her. She wanted to be one hundred per cent sure.

The Doctor's eyes clouded over with confusion. He put a hand on Rose's shoulder, gently, at first, and then he gripped it tighter as if scared to let go. He looked at Rose; his Rose, and swallowed. "Rose…"

Rose could sense he was about to stop talking and softly, she murmured, "What?"

An image suddenly flashed through her mind, a memory. She suddenly remembered. Standing outside a chip shop, with K9 and Sarah-Jane Smith.

_"Imagine that happening to someone you–"_

_"What, Doctor?"_

"I want you to come with me," the Doctor said. "Travel with me again. We can… we can visit…" He paused, clearly thinking. "Barcelona," he said. "The planet Barcelona, not the city. They have dogs with no noses…" He trailed off. While he had been talking, a smile had come to his face, but at Rose's silence, his expression became suddenly neutral again.

Rose stared at him for a while, contemplating her answer and taking his nonchalant shrug in reply to her question into account. "No," she said.

"What?" The Doctor looked stunned, his mouth dropping open as he released her shoulder and stepped back, banging his hip against the console.

"No, Doctor. I can't."

He looked heartbroken. Lost. A lonely little boy. How could she do that to him? But she couldn't. She just couldn't.

"You… you lost me once," she said, trying to keep her voice steady as the tears continued to fill her eyes. "You lost me once, when you said that you wouldn't. I can see that it tore you apart. What if it happened again?"

"It's not going to happen again," the Doctor said resolutely, sticking his chin out and parting his lips a slight pout which made Rose smile in spite of herself.

"How do you know?"

"I know. Please, Rose." His voice was breaking; it was cracked and he sounded completely miserable. She could see the tears that were now in his eyes. Did she look like that?

Rose shook her head. "I'm not going to hurt you again, Doctor. I'm not going to be responsible for that. I…"

"Rose… please…"

"Say it."

He looked confused. "What?"

"We were in Norway. We were on a beach. Bad Wolf Bay. I travelled for miles and miles just to have my heart broken all over again; to watch you disappear. Say it. What you wanted to say. Say it. Please." She was aware of just how much she sounded like Sarah-Jane, his version of Sarah-Jane, not hers. But she wanted to hear him say those words. She wanted to hear them so badly. Maybe if he said those words, she'd be able to go with him. Everything would be all right.

The Doctor lowered his head, breaking eye contact. "Rose–" he whispered, screwing his eyes tightly shut, squeezing the tears out of them and allowing them to run down his cheeks.

"What, Doctor? What?"

"I… can't."

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

He heard footsteps and looked up, to see her leaving, walking towards the door of the TARDIS. "Rose… Rose…" He stepped forward and stopped himself, gritting his teeth and rubbing the tear tracks away from his face.

She turned her head, looking at him through shining eyes, her mascara smudged and running down her cheeks, mingled with her tears. "What, Doctor?"

He was surprised that he found the strength to go on. He continued, in a small voice, "Please don't leave me."

"I'm sorry, Doctor. It's for the best. For you." Rose turned back to face the door and pulled it open. She added in a soft undertone, so that she and only she could hear it, "For me." And then she swung round again at the sound of her name.

"Please don't let it end like this," he said softly.

She considered for a moment, her heart aching painfully as she watched his own hearts break. In a split second, her choice had been made; she ran forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tightly to her.

The Doctor remained limp for a few seconds before returning the embrace, allowing his tears to fall freely onto her shoulder, as hers were falling onto his. They stood there in companionable silence for what felt like only a few seconds before Rose pulled away.

The Doctor released her and looked into her dark brown eyes as she looked into his. He watched her lift a hand and felt her cup his cheek, but it felt as though he was watching the scene from above; he was powerless to do anything. In his mind's eye, he saw himself returning the gesture. Then he'd say it, and she'd know. And they could travel again. Just him and her. Forever.

It didn't happen. He couldn't move. He was having an out of body experience and he was distinctly aware of it. It was as if the universe didn't want him to be happy, as if it did not want him to say those words that he wanted to say so desperately.

"I love you, Doctor," she whispered. "I do. I love you so much. I'm not going to hurt you again." She stroked his face gently with her thumb, and she smiled, before softly whispering, "I love you too." He couldn't help smiling back.

_Oh, she knows._

It was a while before he realised that she was no longer in the TARDIS with him.

He stood stunned for a moment, before moving to the console's screen and hitting a few buttons, giving him an outside view of the TARDIS. Rose was visible, walking away. She did not look back.

The Doctor pulled on one of the levers, frustrated, and the screen went black as the familiar sound of the TARDIS dematerialising filled his ears. The Doctor hit a button, sealing the gap in time and space.

The TARDIS shook and he grabbed the mallet, hitting the console with it. "Behave!" he growled.

Suddenly there was a series of strange noises coming from the middle of the console. The Doctor leant on the screen and pressed it a couple of times with his index finger. His expression turned into a frown.

"Plasma coils?" he said, his brow creased. He looked up at the console and suddenly gave a manic grin, hitting several buttons around him. "My abdomen could really do with a once over. I think it's time to check in, don't you?"


End file.
